When I was 18, I bought a boat for a million pounds and sold it a year later for just over half the price.

Paintings and guitars. I have Picasso prints and one Rembrandt etching.

I spent £600 on Rudolf Nureyev’s ballet shoes after he died. He was the biggest idol in my life and influenced me hugely.

A garden chair from the Chelsea flower show. It was almost the price of a small crappy car.

The years between 13 and 17, which I think are very formative, and the rather arid public school upbringing I had at Harrow.

I cry all the time. I like crying: it means that you’re more truly aware of a circumstance or a person or an event.

Aside from family life, which is the ultimate happiness, when I see or hear a great artist.

If you have a nice drink before going to bed, you don’t stay awake at night. I like almost anything in a bottle.

I feel lucky to have been in this business for as long as I have. When I think of the intake that I was with at Rada, only one other person is still an actor, an old fellow called Bill Gaunt.

To be able to play the piano like Artur Schnabel.